Slave to Love

They talked passionately about world pollution and the ecological balance, and how animal life quality was the barometer of hu

man life quality. And of how they tried to get these points across via their documentaries. They described to her how much time and patience it took to follow a particular species through a complete cycle of its life, to monitor, log on film its interaction with others of its species, and what it had to do just to survive.

Just walking the seashore with them was an experience in itself, for they could pick up a single shell and give a knowledgeable narration on what it was, where it came from and why it was now lying on this particular beach.

But sometimes, as they talked and showed her things, she felt like a child again—a child who should have been shown these wonders at five or seven or nine years old, not at twenty-five. And, as if they too had become aware of the same, they would suddenly change the subject and talk of other things—force her to talk about herself until the awkward moment had gone again.

Yet these moments also drew them closer together. Roberta recognised that she would never become a full disciple of their fascinating life. Too much time had gone by for her to change what circumstances had moulded her into. And there were too many memories of feeling lost and cast out while they chased their personal rainbows for her ever to completely forgive them their neglect of her. But at least she learned to understand them, and maybe even admire them for their total dedication.

By the time she arrived back in London she was feeling much calmer emotionally too. Long hours spent lying on a beach, with nothing else to do but think, had helped her pull her life back into perspective.

She loved Mac. That was an unalterable fact. But she had also come to accept that a one-sided love could not sustain a relationship and sustain an acceptable amount of self-esteem at the same time.

She needed to break completely free from the Maclaine power, and the only way to do that was to leave the company, find herself another job and try to start afresh without the constant pull on her emotions that the Maclaine name automatically had.

So it was with that decision fixed firmly in her mind that she walked into the Maclaine building two weeks later.

The first person she saw was Mitzy. ‘Wow, don’t you look fantastic!’ she said, eyeing Roberta’s carefully nurtured golden tan and the flattering effect it had on her lovely green eyes and pale blonde hair. ‘And are you in deep trouble!’ she then added sagely.

Roberta smiled at the compliment and peaked a pale eyebrow at the warning. It was Mitzy she had spoken to before she’d gone off to Spain, leaving the poor secretary to break the news to Joel that his assistant was taking an unscheduled two weeks off without permission.

‘I don’t know what’s been going on since you did a bunk,’ Mitzy said, ‘but all hell has been let loose in here. The Big Mac has had one hell of a bust-up with the Little Mac. He was heard blasting at him with enough heat to solder his feet to the ground,’ she informed Roberta drily. ‘It seemed to revolve around the fact that you had been allowed to disappear off the face of the earth, and what the hell did Joel think he was doing letting it happen! To which Joel demanded what the hell did he expect you to do—wait around until he had time for pillow-talk again? Which,’ Mitzy said drolly at Roberta’s stiffening look, ‘took the top right off the Big Mac’s temper, I can tell you. Since then he’s been stomping around like a giant with big boots on—you know?’ she prompted. ‘Thundering and lightning all over the place?’

‘And how do you know all of this?’ Roberta coolly enquired.

‘Because I listened,’ Mitzy admitted. ‘With my ear to that door over there.’ She pointed to Joel’s closed office door. ‘I got the impression that most of it was over the Brunner deal, but—’ she shrugged her disappointment ‘—couldn’t quite catch enough to be sure. What did happen out there in Zurich?’ she then asked Roberta curiously.

‘Nothing,’ she answered, then asked, for her own curiosity, ‘How did the Brunner deal finish in the end?’

‘Oh.’ Mitzy’s eyes went wide again. ‘Didn’t you know? The Big Mac settled all of that before he left Zurich!’

Roberta frowned. ‘But he couldn’t have done,’ she protested. ‘He hadn’t even had any contact with Franc Brunner before he left!’

Mitzy just shrugged all that away. ‘Well, I have a copy of the whole deal around here somewhere,’ she said, beginning to hunt through the mounds of paperwork cluttering her desk. ‘Yes!’ she cried. ‘Here it is!’ She handed it to Roberta. ‘See—Big Mac’s signature on the bottom next to Brunner’s. And the date,’ she prompted, ‘look at the date. He closed it out the same day you both arrived in Zurich. You’ve got to give it to the guy,’ she sighed admiringly, ‘nothing stops him once he’s been wound up! And look at the price they eventually settled on!’ She then added for good measure, ‘We’d shot way past that weeks before he came in on it!’

Roberta was looking. She was thinking too. Thinking things that made her blood begin to simmer and sent two weeks’ hard-won serenity shooting right out of her head.

‘Where’s Joel?’ she demanded tightly, pulling off her coat to reveal a black dress beneath that did the most amazing things to her figure.

‘In his office,’ Mitzy said, frowning at the plain white envelope Roberta produced before discarding her bag along with her coat. ‘But if you’ve got any sense, Roberta,’ she warned as Roberta went striding towards Joel’s closed office door, ‘you’ll go upstairs before seeing Joel! Only, the Big Mac has already rung down here, demanding to see you, and it’s only five past nine now!’

‘Blow Mac,’ she muttered. ‘I’ll go and see him when I’m good and ready!’

Joel’s door swung open. He was sitting at his desk, looking grim-faced and fed up. But he brightened when he saw her. ‘Roberta!’ he cried, coming to his feet. ‘You look great! The break has obviously done you good!’

‘It had,’ she agreed, walking briskly to his desk. ‘Until I came back here and saw this!’ Angrily she slapped the copy of the Brunner deal down in front of him. ‘What does all this mean, Joel?’ she demanded.

‘Mean?’ He looked uncomfortable all of a sudden. ‘It means Mac clinched us a damned good deal—what the heck do you think it means?’ he asked offhandedly. ‘I don’t know why you’re glaring at me like that, Roberta,’ he snapped. ‘You knew Mac had gone out there to sort it all out!’

‘Yes,’ she agreed. ‘But I hadn’t realised how quickly he’d sorted it all out,’ she explained. ‘Like by the end of the very same day he arrived!’

‘Oh.’ Joel sat down again. ‘Didn’t he tell you? That would be the emergency with Delia getting in the way,’ he decided with a smile.

‘Or more likely because he didn’t want me to know he had sorted it out at all!’ she snapped. ‘What kind of game were you and your brother playing with me, Joel?’ she demanded to know. ‘Was I sent out to Zurich for no other reason than that Mac wanted me there?’

He flushed, an answer in itself. More confirmation came when he turned defensive. ‘Look,’ he said uncomfortably, ‘don’t spit at me—spit at my brother! He’s the one who set you up!’

‘With your help!’ she snapped. ‘Which makes me all the more certain that I am doing the right thing in giving you this!’ And she held the plain white envelope out towards him.